``There were a lot of good offers, and a lot of good fits," Clark said upon arrival. "But this seems like a good spot. So I'm praying it goes well."

Clark says he chose his first visit carefully, and hope he doesn't make another.

"That's the reason we waited so long to take any [free agent] trips," Clark said. "We had interested teams that I didn't really want to go to, and I didn't want to try to make myself look busy by going to a bunch of different places."

I'm not much of a Ryan Clark fan, but at least we're looking..

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Last edited by joeschmoe on Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i dont understand why everyone is down on him, he is a big upgrade over Wilson, he lead the steelers last yr w/ 110 solo tackles and had 3 int..tying for team lead w/ Polamalu.. im all for it i think he will do good.

I would prefer O.J Atogwe, but Ryan Clark is a good football player and a hellacious hitter as Willis MaGahee can attest.

Hopefully if Clark is signed he falls into the Randy Starks, Jake Grove, Cameron Wake and Justin Smiley free agents instead of the Ernest Wilford and Gibril Wilson version of free agents Miami has signed.

I think Chris Clemons is still a little raw and needs some work still, but he has the physical skills you like. Tyrone Culver is a nice option at FS as well, so Miami does have a few young players that can be developed behind Clark if he is signed.

i dont understand why everyone is down on him, he is a big upgrade over Wilson, he lead the steelers last yr w/ 110 solo tackles and had 3 int..tying for team lead w/ Polamalu.. im all for it i think he will do good.

Troy Polamalu was injured most of the season. Clark can hit, but that was gerbil's thing too. We don't need another tackler, we need a guy who can cover and create turnovers. If we were to bring in Atogwe our secondary would take a huge step forward. I would rather have a QB scared to throw the ball than have a WR scared to catch the ball.

I see a lot of guys giving opinions without knowing what they are talking about regarding Ryan Clark.

He is a top 20 safety in the NFL. Profootballfocus.com ranks him the 18th best safety in the NFL (although they did rank Gibril Wilson 15th). Now that doesn't put him in elite category, but certainly good enough to shore up our deep secondary. He had 89 tackles last season and 3 INTs with 8 passes defensed. He is a knockout hitter over the middle and a stable last line of defense for the Steelers defense according to Scouts, Inc.

This isn't a guy who just got cut by the Raiders a year after signing for a multimillion dollar deal. He is a guy who has been with the Steelers for 4 seasons.

He allowed 38.5% of the passes thrown his way to be completed and 1 TD all year. QBs that throw into his coverage area have a rating of 36.2.

Granted the Steelers pressure helps those stats, but you will find that to be the case with any safety.

I would like the move. He is a definite upgrade over Wilson.

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Last edited by Rich on Mon Mar 08, 2010 6:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

I see a lot of guys giving opinions without knowing what they are talking about regarding Ryan Clark.

He is a top 20 safety in the NFL. Now that doesn't put him in elite category, but certainly good enough to shore up our deep secondary. He had 110 tackles last season and 3 INTs. He is a knockout hitter over the middle and a stable last line of defense for the Steelers defense.

I don't disagree that he's a major upgrade, Rich, but do his stats rank him top 20? It all depends who's doing the measuring... one breakdown had Gibril ranked top 20, and we all know how that was...

I would not mind the move. I think bringing in a guy with the attitude and mentality of the Steelers defense is not a bad thing. Maybe he can teach Sean Smith how to put his head down and lay out some WR/RB's. I believe we are going to draft a young guy anyway, but I doesn't hurt to have a veteran to guide the rest of our players. Besides like they quoted before, Clark has 2 rings, so he knows what it takes to be a champion. Not a bad thing to have trickleing around our locker room.

The one thing that I think is a plus for Ryan is that he is part of an aggressive 3-4 scheme featured by Pittsburgh. Mike Nolan is a very aggressive DC and he does a good bit of blitzing with his system out of the 3-4 as well.

I would think Nolan would have some say so in personnel that would best fit what he wants to do, and perhaps Ryan is a better fit for what he wants to do.

The one thing that I think is a plus for Ryan is that he is part of an aggressive 3-4 scheme featured by Pittsburgh. Mike Nolan is a very aggressive DC and he does a good bit of blitzing with his system out of the 3-4 as well.

I would think Nolan would have some say so in personnel that would best fit what he wants to do, and perhaps Ryan is a better fit for what he wants to do.

Sounds like clark has/had others after him. I don't see him leaving now. He sounds like this might be his only interview. He's as good as ours.

I see a lot of guys giving opinions without knowing what they are talking about regarding Ryan Clark.

He is a top 20 safety in the NFL. Profootballfocus.com ranks him the 18th best safety in the NFL (although they did rank Gibril Wilson 15th). Now that doesn't put him in elite category, but certainly good enough to shore up our deep secondary. He had 89 tackles last season and 3 INTs with 8 passes defensed. He is a knockout hitter over the middle and a stable last line of defense for the Steelers defense according to Scouts, Inc.

This isn't a guy who just got cut by the Raiders a year after signing for a multimillion dollar deal. He is a guy who has been with the Steelers for 4 seasons.

He allowed 38.5% of the passes thrown his way to be completed and 1 TD all year. QBs that throw into his coverage area have a rating of 36.2.

Granted the Steelers pressure helps those stats, but you will find that to be the case with any safety.

I would like the move. He is a definite upgrade over Wilson.

To back-up Rich's point, the only safety that was better out in coverage in 09 was Sharper...

MIAMI (CBS4) ―The Miami Dolphins struck early in free agency landing arguably the best player available in linebacker Karlos Dansby. Immediately after that, the Fins turned their attention to the safety position and the team is now hot on the trail of former Steelers safety Ryan Clark.

Clark arrived in Fort Lauderdale Sunday night and the Fins hope he doesn't leave the team's facility in Davie without a signed contract. The 30-year-old safety was undrafted out of LSU, but became a force as he teamed with All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu for the Steelers.

Didn't see this posted. I am glad we are going after someone in free agency since we do not have a starting FS as of right now. I still prefer Sharper though.

Big Hitters. That seems to the be theme of this year's Miami Dolphins offseason. Steelers big hitter Ryan Clark interviewed with the Miami Dolphins this evening and is expected to sign a contract within the next 24 hours. Sources have told me there is a slight differential in desired years per Clark but Miami is willing to budge with a reasonable asking price.Former Dolphin FS Gibril Wilson, 2009's biggest offseason bust for the team, was released recently leaving a position void for Clark to fill.

Ryan Clark, considered one of free agency's top safeties on the market, has been considerably quiet. According to Clark, Miami is the reason he's stayed put for a while.